Home lost, Home found
by galliumite
Summary: An answer to the question of how Ron and Hermione ended up married.


**A/N: This was written for Round 5 of the Quiddich League FanFiction competion. It's a short piece dealing with what lead Hermione and Ron to end up married.**

 **I used the prompts: (object) candle**

 **and (object) broomstick**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

Candles.

They had always been symbolic to her. A flame that was too hot would melt away it's candle too fast, and a flame that was not hot enough would make no real change to it's candle. Hermione had always used those two ideas when making a decision. Be too quick and the situation would quickly dissolve without stability, be too slow, too unwilling to act and the situation may never change. So Hermione had always tried for the middle ground, not too hasty, yet not too reluctant. That would mean that the situation could change with stability. The flame would be just right for it's candle.

That had nearly cost her everything.

She had been away from Harry when he went to the forbidden forest, she decided that it would have been too hasty to go to the forest and watch for him after Voldemort had called Harry out. She decided it would be too slow to wait around for something to happen and maybe find Harry. So she decided to help the wounded in the Great Hall, and so she decided on a path that kept her separate from Harry. The moment she had heard Voldemort's voice, taunting them with Harry's death, she broke down. Of course everything had been alright in the end, everything except for her. She was confused and she needed to find herself.

It was the memory of her breaking down that brought her here. It was the need for her to put herself back together. It was the need that she had to center herself. It was the need for home. For stability. And so she did come home, or what was her home, once. She realized now that home was not something she really possessed any more, she was in the building that her parents had lived in, before she sent them to Australia. But this was no longer her home, she hadn't really lived here since she was eleven. And that haunted her.

Looking back, Hermione realised how hastily she had made her decisions, she sent her parents away. She went to Hogwarts. She loved Harry. All without a second thought. And so she had burnt away her candle. Her foundation. Her home. If she had never sent her parents away, without their memories of her, she would be able to reforge her relationship with them; bridge the gap that had formed between her and them as she went to Hogwarts. They could have become her tether, then wherever they were would be her home. If she had never gone to Hogwarts, this place would still be her home. The void between her and her parents would never have have formed and she would never have left here. If she had never loved Harry, she could have created a stable place for herself in the wizarding world, it could have become her home. Now she had to with the repercussions of her fame at Harry's side, which she had never wanted, and with the fact that she had lost a whole year of life in that world. It had become unstable. And so Hermione wept.

She sat in what had been her parents room, cradling a picture frame that contained a photograph of a simple backdrop. She had been in that photograph, but her parents didn't know that, not anymore, and so they had left the photo.

It was then that Ron Weasley entered the room.

Hermione had refused to talk to her friend at first, so he knelt down besides her, on the dusty floor, and held Hermione in his arms as she wept. The amount of time they spent in that position was never measured. It was long enough that Hermione felt herself run dry of tears, and long enough that Ron had time to think about his first true crush. The girl on the train that had been bold as brass as she told him of the dirt on his nose. Once Hermione had run out of tears, she began whispering, telling Ron of all of her fears, all of her regrets. The flood gate broke and Ron saw Hermione for perhaps the first time. A girl that had no idea of her place. It was in that moment, once Hermione had spilled all of her pain to Ron, that Ron made a decision. He would be there for Hermione. Always.

That oath meant that Ron and Hermione spent a lot of time together, and during that time, They grew closer and closer. It was exactly a year after Voldemort had been defeated for good and celebrations were in full swing. During those celebrations, Ron and Hermione snuck away from the noise and attention, leaving their mutual best friend to cope on his own. They were each giddy, what with the atmosphere and their closeness. That giddiness over-rode some of Hermione's sensibilities and before either of them knew it, they were poised to take off, sitting on a broomstick. The length of the broomstick meant that closeness was a necessity, and Hermione's inability to fly contributed to her sitting behind Ron, with her arms around him for support. Once they took off, Hermione quickly regretted the decision to fly, but due to her own Griffindorishness, she couldn't tell Ron that. Ron on the other hand was enjoying both the leisurely flight and his proximity to Hermione. He had begun to develop feelings above and beyond the simple crush he had always harbored towards Hermione, but he felt that actually talking to her about them would make it seem like the only reason that he was supporting Hermione emotionally was to make her like him. They flew for half an hour or so, with both of them relaxing into both the flight and their closeness.

It was when they touched down, that Ron had his fears dealt with. Hermione turned Ron's head to look her in the ears and whispered two words that answered the two of Ron's questions. The questions being : Would Hermione be okay? and did he have a chance with her? The two words were "I'm home." And the two kissed.

In Hermione's mind, she had finally found her tether, she had realised that home, was where the heart was, home was where Ron Weasley was.


End file.
